FIX: Task Manager has been Disabled or Missing from Ctrl-Alt-Del Options (Solved).

If you receive the "Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator" error message, when you try to open Windows Task Manager, means that your computer is possibly infected by a malware program, or that your network administrator has applied this restriction in order to prevent you to close important programs that needed to be executed on your computer (e.g. Antivirus or Security programs.).

If your computer is a personal computer and you cannot open Task Manager or the "Task Manager" option is missing when you press "Ctrl+Alt+Del" then you are probably infected from a harmful program that has disabled the "Task Manager" in Windows Registry settings.

In this tutorial you 'll find detailed instructions on how to re-enable Task Manager on Windows 10, 8, 7 or Vista OS.

How to fix: Task Manager has been disabled, does not open  or missing from ALT + CTRL + DEL options.

Step 1. Scan your system for Viruses and Malware.

The first step to resolve the "Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator" error, is to clean your system from virus/malware, etc. For that task follow the instructions in this guide: How To Scan Your Computer for Viruses and other Malicious Programs.

Step 2. Enable Task Manager in Registry.

After cleaning you computer  from harmful programs it's time to enable Task Manager, by using Registry Editor.

1. Open Registry Editor. To do that:

1. Simultaneously press the Win + R keys to open the run command box.
2. Type regedit and press Enter to open Registry Editor.

2. Navigate to this key at left pane: *

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

3. Now look at the right pane if you can see a DWORD value named: DisableTaskMgr. If so then delete that value from there, or modify its value data to 0.

4. Now perform the same actions (remove the DisableTaskMgr DWORD value or modify its value data to 0) at the following registry keys:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\ Current Version\Policies\System
• HKEY_USERS\.default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

5. Finally navigate at the following two (2) locations and delete both the DisallowRun REG_DWORD key and the DisallowRun folder (if exist).

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\

6. When done, close registry editor and restart your computer.

That's it! Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.

If this article was useful for you, please consider supporting us by making a donation. Even $1 can a make a huge difference for us in our effort to continue to help others while keeping this site free:

• Author
• Recent Posts

Konstantinos Tsoukalas

Konstantinos is the founder and administrator of Wintips.org. Since 1995 he works and provides IT support as a computer and network expert to individuals and large companies. He is specialized in solving problems related to Windows or other Microsoft products (Windows Server, Office, Microsoft 365, etc.).

Latest posts by Konstantinos Tsoukalas (see all)

• How to Disable or Remove BitLocker from Windows RE. - April 24, 2024
• FIX: Error 0x8007025d in Windows 10 Update. - April 22, 2024
• How to Disable Device Encryption in Windows 11/10. - April 17, 2024